How Xbox Live Gold Must Change For a New Age of Free

A new chief executive, a new head of Microsoft’s Devices business, a new corporate philosophy. But Microsoft’s Xbox Live Gold subscription service, especially on its new Xbox One game console, seems stuck in the past. Some of the included services are still arguably worth the money, but the rapid evolution of free cloud services in recent years surely has some Gold customers asking: “Why am I paying for this again?”

It's time for a change. Whether Microsoft's ready to mess with this cash cow is the big question.

[ThanatosDMC]

MS wont change it since it's revenue for them and there are people willing to pay.

[Belasco]

They will if subscriptions begin to lapse.

[BlackTar187]

It would take allot of them. Xbox makes so many MP games if everyone was letting the Gold lapse then the bigger issue would be no one is buying the games.

[avengers1978]

If playstation stayed free, then I could see them dropping the paid service, but since you need to pay for multiplier on either Xbox or PS4, I don't think it will change much. They might take some apps like hulu plus and netflix and make those free.
Plus Xbox fans haven't seemed to mind paying since 360 came out there are 48 million subscribers according to MS.

If they do make gold free I could see this as a big advantage and help sales overall, and probably force playstation to go back to free, I think both companies would still have a pay option though.

[DaleCooper]

Agreed. Since their biggest competition (Sony) started charging for their multiplayer, MS won't make Gold free, especially now.

If Sony halves their price or does something drastic, then I think MS will step up like they did with Games with Gold. Sure Games with Gold doesn't have as great or as recent of games as PS+, but MS wouldn't be giving out games unless Sony started the trend. Competition is good!

[Freeball]

As long as people pay for it, they won't drop it.

[SliceOfTruth888]

Titanfall's dedicated server performance is more than enough reason for me to pay the 4 bucks a month live costs. Yes 4 bucks because i havent ever had to pay more than 40 bucks for a year of it

[ThanatosDMC]

$4 a month is $48 a year. I'm confused.

[avengers1978]

And I thought a year of gold was 59.99$

[dodgemoose]

There's 12 months in a year, not 10. ^_^

[N8]

I have had just as many drops playing titanfall as I have had playing any other game on PSN.I have both systems and I love titanfall I get kicked just as much as any other FPS Ms or not .

[n4rc]

Sounds like an issue on your end

[Belasco]

That literally has never happened to me playing TF, not once. Not to say it hasn't occured for others, this is just my experience. On the topic of Gold, they just need to add more value, end of story. Right now PS+ kicks it's ass in value for your $

[BlackTar187]

it's very hard for me to believe you've never been dropped. Sure it could be our end but i play TitanFall with 5 people and we've all been dropped enough times to remember 5/6 of us have comcast internet which is pretty good here in the bay area. The other guy has AT&T and he gets the same issues.

It's not bad and it may not be as frequent as BF or others but it's happen more then a handful of times.

[N8]

@BlackTar
People are in denial. That's what I was trying to say. BS you never been kicked off. That's fanboy talk

[n4rc]

I'm not saying it won't happen.. But my experience with titanfall has been flawless in regards to dropping..

But if it happens to all your other games as well? Its far more likely to been an issue on your end.. Either your router/modem or ISP in general.

[SixtyNine]

I want a solid, feature rich and reliable online experience when I'm gaming online. That takes priority over free games, most of which I don't want to play in the first place. There's always room for improvements though. Some people need more reasons than dedicated servers to pay for live. The value for Gold should be reconstructed. Some features shouldn't be behind the Xbox live pay wall. I shouldn't need Gold to use a service like Skype or IE?

[extermin8or]

Yeah but as it stands PSN and XBL gold do have basically identical features just plus tends to be slightly better value in terms of the games given... I mean, both have cross game party and party chat, some PSN games have used dedicated servers since the ps3 first released, so that's nothing new there (motorstorm, resistance 1,2, gt5, killzone 2,warhawk, starhawk, killzone shadow fall-killzone shadow fall is the only first party exclusive with major online features out atm so it's hard to judge goingforwards.) Also the features like the TVOD apps and cross game party chat etc are available without ps plus.... infact pretty much the only thing as far as im aware you can't do is play games online OR get the free games etc if you don't have plus and if it's an mmo with it's own subscription then you don't need plus for it, nor do you need ps plus for the free to play games-because they are free to play....

[Activemessiah]

I'll never understand the whole "pay to play online" as if the game or the internet is free... i paid for the game and i'm already paying for internet... no more.

[Wikkid666]

It cost money to maintain a service... so why should that be free?

[Activemessiah]

Tell that to PC users who enjoy online "Free"

[Gamer666]

"Free" is one of the stupidest words on the planet.

It is a marketing term that is disguised as an offering to consumers... Marketers make lots of money, have elaborate parties, and laugh at the expensive people who think they are getting anything for "free"...

[Veneno]

I'm sure lots of marketers abuse the term free, but sometimes people actually do get things free, or close enough to it.

[frankdrebin72]

True....yet as stated before,..you dont go to your favorite restraunt,..and get a free meal,..whenever you want,..you cant go into a taxi and get a free fare...yet the atitude of people wanting free boggles me,..sorry but i was brought up expecting to pay for things,..weather its food,taxi,..or internet,..the use of microsofts service .
yet these same people that scream free feel no shame in spending THEIR money on booze, take aways etc...seems more to do with what you want to pay for .
i pay for my subscription,..lets face it,..its not a lot,..you have wasted more on drunken nights out,..throwing up what you paid for...yet people will repeat this,..
its simple,..you want something material wise,..you pay for it..as for pc gamers free,..well considering they get shot down as soon as they pop their head above ground on here,..its ironic to mention them in the same breath as most often they get blasted about the cost of their gaming rig etc etc compared to a console.
free is an illusion ..there is always something attatched.

[Reeze]

Online functionality should be free.

[donscrillinger]

xbox live service is phenomenal

[N8]

I have to renew my Xbox Live and I always dread it. Not because its a bad service because its not. But because I have PS plus and I get so much more out of it I can feel MS raping me when I renew.

[Belasco]

I am sure you probably already know this, but Amazon is usually the best place to get a Live sub, I have never paid over 50 per year, a few times I have gotten it for less than 40.

[Veneno]

I wonder how MS feels that their company is associated and almost synonymous with such a malicious thing as rape?

[extermin8or]

Would they care? aslong as people are paying?

[Veneno]

Even though PS+ is a better deal, neither online service makes much sense to me. It feels like buying in to cable TV . I'm not going to watch % 90 of the channels so why pay so much? And with ps + all I want is to play online so why pay 50 per year for ONE function? Why cant I pay 10 per year? Or 2 per month?

like cable, these online services are packaging a whole lot of content that shouldn't be grouped together.

[Belasco]

It takes a huge amount of servers to be able to play these games online, and an army of people to maintain and support it, who do not work for free one would think. Not to mention expansion and data center build outs, I could go on and on with the cost. That's why it's not free.

[jnemesh]

They can still charge people $60/year...but they have to do a few things:

1. Remove the requirement of "Gold" to use media apps like Netflix and Hulu

2. Improve "Games for Gold" program to include newer, and better games.

3. Expand "Games for Gold" to include XBox One titles.

If they do those three simple things, then people will feel that the service is worth the fee that they are paying. Right now, it feels more like a "tax" than a benefit.

[kewlkat007]

What money will they use to support and maintain the servers?

[urwifeminder]

More than happy with the service good value.